Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 2 No. 1: March 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-03-28
DOI: 10.11646/mesozoic.2.1.5
Page range: 33-41
Abstract views: 39
PDF downloaded: 24

Taxonomic additions to the genus †Megacoxa Brazidec et al., 2024 (Hymenoptera: Megalyridae) from Kachin amber

Oxford University Museum of Natural History; University of Oxford; Parks Road; Oxford OX1 3PW; UK
Hymenoptera Apocrita long-tailed wasp new taxon parasitoid wasp taxonomy

Abstract

The extinct genus Megacoxa was recently described from Kachin amber and currently includes six formally recognized species. Despite the recent addition of three new species, additional, yet-undescribed specimens continue to be discovered in both institutional and private collections, awaiting formal description. The vast quantity of material extracted from the Kachin biota provides a practically inexhaustible source of new species. As with many insect families preserved in mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber, the diversity and number of megalyrid wasps remain significantly underestimated. In this study, I illustrate a new specimen of Megacoxa chandrahrasa Brazidec et al., 2024. I also describe a new species, Megacoxa miscea sp. nov., which exhibits a combination of characters found in M. janzeni and M. synchrotron. Furthermore, I present an updated identification key for Megacoxa species, incorporating this newly described species.

References

  1. Aria, C., Jouault, C., Perrichot, V. & Nel, A. (2023) The megathermal ant genus Gesomyrmex (Formicidae: Formicinae), palaeoindicator of wide latitudinal biome homogeneity during the PETM. Geological Magazine, 160, 187–197. https://doi.org/ 10.1017/S0016756822001248
  2. Brazidec, M., Vilhelmsen, L., Boudinot, B.E., Richter, A., Hammel, J.U., Perkovsky, E.E., Fan, Y., Wang, Z., Wu, Q., Wang, B. & Perrichot, V. (2024) Unveiling ancient diversity of long-tailed wasps (Hymenoptera: Megalyridae): new taxa from Cretaceous Kachin and Taimyr ambers and their phylogenetic affinities. Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny, 82, 151–181. https://doi.org/10.3897/asp.82.e111148
  3. Cruickshank, R.D. & Ko, K. (2003) Geology of an amber locality in the Hukawng Valley, Northern Myanmar. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 21, 441–455. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1367-9120(02)00044-5
  4. Goulet, H. & Huber, J.T. (1993) Hymenoptera of the world: an identification guide to families. Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, 680 pp.
  5. Grimaldi, D. & Ross, A.S. (2017) Extraordinary Lagerstätten in amber, with particular reference to the Cretaceous of Burma. In: Fraser, N.C. & Sues, H.D. (Eds), Terrestrial conservation lagerstätten: windows into the evolution of life on land. Dunedin Press, Edinburgh, UK, pp. 287–342.
  6. Guénard, B., Perrichot, V. & Economo, E.P. (2015) Integration of global fossil and modern biodiversity data reveals dynamism and stasis in ant macroecological patterns. Journal of Biogeography, 42, 2302–2312. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.12614
  7. Perrichot, V. (2009) Long-tailed wasps (Hymenoptera: Megalyridae) from Cretaceous and Paleogene European amber. Paleontological Contributions, 1, 1–35. https://doi.org/10.17161/PC.1808.5468
  8. Poinar, G. & Shaw, S.R. (2007) Megalyra baltica Poinar and Shaw n. sp (Hymenoptera: Megalyridae), a long-tailed wasp from Baltic amber. Zootaxa, 1478, 65–68. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.1478.1.7
  9. Rasnitsyn, A.P. (1975) Hymenoptera Apocrita of Mesozoic. Trudy Paleontologicheskogo Instituta Akademii Nauk SSSR, 147, 1–134. [In Russian]
  10. Ross, A.J. (2025) Supplement to the Burmese (Myanmar) amber checklist and bibliography, 2024. Palaeoentomology, 8, 12–28. https://doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.8.1.4
  11. Shaw, S.R. (1990a) Phylogeny and biogeography of the parasitoid wasp family Megalyridae (Hymenoptera). Journal of Biogeography, 17, 569–581. https://doi.org/10.2307/2845141
  12. Shaw, S.R. (1990b) A taxonomic revision of the long-tailed wasps of the genus Megalyra Westwood (Hymenoptera: Megalyridae). Invertebrate Taxonomy, 3, 1005–1052. https://doi.org/10.1071/IT9891005
  13. Schletterer, A. (1889) Die Hymenopteren-Gattungen Stenophasmus Smith, Monomachus Westwood, Pelecinus Latreille und Megalyra Westwood. Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift, 33, 197–250.
  14. Shi, G.H., Grimaldi, D.A., Harlow, G.E., Wang, J., Wang, J., Yang, M.C., Lei, W.Y., Li, Q.L. & Li, X.H. (2012) Age constraint on Burmese amber based on U-Pb dating of zircons. Cretaceous Research, 37, 155–163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2012.03.014
  15. Vilhelmsen, L., Perrichot, V. & Shaw, S.R. (2010) Past and present diversity and distribution in the parasitic wasp family Megalyridae (Hymenoptera). Systematic Entomology, 35, 658–677. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3113.2010.00537.x
  16. Vilhelmsen, L., Wu, Q., Wang, Z., Gao, T.P. & Ren, D. (2025) Three new species of the long-tailed wasp genus †Megacoxa Brazidec et al., 2024 (Hymenoptera: Megalyridae) from Kachin amber. European Journal of Taxonomy, 976, 238–254. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2025.976.2793
  17. Westwood, J.O. (1832) Class Insecta. Supplement on the Hymenoptera. In: Griffith, E. (Ed.), The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization by the Baron Cuvier. Whittaker, Treacher and Co., London, pp. 389–576.
  18. Westwood, J.O. (1851) Descriptions of some new species of exotic Hymenoptera belonging to Evania and the allied genera, being a supplement to a memoir on those insects published in the third volume of the Transactions of the Entomological Society. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, 21, 213–234.